Enhancing Supply Chain Resilience through Digital Procurement: An Information Processing Theory Perspective

This article explores how digital procurement can significantly enhance supply chain resilience, drawing on the lens of Information Processing Theory (IPT). In an increasingly volatile and complex global environment, supply chains face heightened risks of disruption, requiring firms to improve their ability to acquire, process, and act upon critical information. Digital procurement technologies, including advanced analytics, cloud platforms, and artificial intelligence, expand the information-processing capabilities of organizations by enabling superior data integration, transparency, and collaborative decision-making. Through a theoretical discussion anchored in IPT, this paper elucidates how digital procurement reduces information asymmetry and increases processing speed and accuracy, thereby supporting more agile and robust responses to supply chain disruptions. The article systematically analyzes mechanisms such as real-time data sharing, predictive analytics, and automation of procurement processes, highlighting their roles in enhancing situational awareness and response capabilities. Moreover, it discusses how digital procurement facilitates coordination across diverse supply network actors, strengthening collective resilience. The study contributes to the literature by integrating IPT with digital procurement research, offering a novel conceptual framework to explain the linkages between technology-enabled information processing and supply chain resilience. This perspective underscores the importance of investing in digital procurement not merely as an efficiency driver but as a critical enabler of strategic resilience. Implications for managers and policymakers are also discussed, emphasizing the need to prioritize digital transformation initiatives that enhance information flow and processing throughout the supply chain. Overall, this article offers valuable theoretical and practical insights into leveraging digital procurement to build more resilient and adaptive supply chains.